


All that glitters is not gold

by eringeosphere



Series: Here there be dragons [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Gen, Hashirama is a wood dragon, In which the waring clans era is more like the waring dragon clans era, Sorry Not Sorry, Tobirama is a water dragon, although they have human forms too, and hoards people, three guesses as to where this is going?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 12:46:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7618606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eringeosphere/pseuds/eringeosphere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which the Senju and Uchiha clans are the two largest dragon clans, fighting each other for a reason no-one truly remembers. Little might have changed, except for Tobirama's (entirely instinctual, he hastens to add) decision to hoard people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All that glitters is not gold

The day which sets the waring dragon clans on the (long and exceedingly bumpy) road to peace doesn’t start as anything particularly remarkable. Tobirama has finished his training for the day and with no missions currently scheduled, he’s currently content to lounge on a rock in his dragon form, enjoying the bright summer sunshine. It’s peaceful out here, away from the central conglomeration of Senju clan lairs. Tobirama loves the members of his clan dearly, but Sage above, quiet is not one of their defining character traits.

For instance, his decision earlier today to train outside the main clan grounds was driven solely by a quarrel between his cousin, Touka, and his nest-brother, Hashirama. Tobirama didn’t quite catch what it was that Hashirama said to offend his cousin, but the shriek that Touka had emitted before she launched herself at his brother’s throat had been impressive for the sheer fury it conveyed. Touka hadn’t even bothered to switch from her human form to dragon one, despite the fact the Hashirama had, at the time, been the size of a small house. The resulting scuffle had disturbed two of their most immediate neighbours; from there, half a dozen dragons of varying size and affinity had joined in, blasts of wind, water, poison and wood flying in various directions.

Tobirama himself had been forced to fold down to his human form to avoid a scorched ear, before departing with every ounce of his not inconsiderable speed. Squabbling within their clan is not an unusual occurrence - Tobirama would have considered it _more_ remarkable if Hashirama had managed to make it through the day _without_ offending someone. He is aware that there are some instincts inherent to different species of dragons that are never going to be fully overcome - a firedrake's inability to go a day without setting something on fire, for example, but that doesn't mean that they can't at least tolerate each other.

The entire conflict between the Senju and the Uchiha dragon clans is a point in case - what ever the original cause of the conflict, it is barely remembered, even by draconic memories.

(The eldest of the Senju tells a story of the theft of the centrepiece of the hoard belonging to a previous Senju Clan head by one of the Uchiha firedrake clan. The price demanded in recompense had been deemed unsuitable, and the resulting fallout had lead to the death of a member of both the Senju and the Uchiha. The two clans have been at each other's throats, literal and metaphorical, ever since. Tobirama wonders, sometimes, what the story sounds like as told from by an Uchiha elder. Most tales have more than one end to them, after all.)

A whoosh of displaced air and a series of excited chittering noises disturbs the babbling noise of the brook next to Tobirama, and he lifts his head to spy two younglings from the clan swooping in dizzying arcs in the sky above him. Tobirama recognises the air-aligned twins from the last clan gathering - too young to be sent out in combat, although it’s only a matter of time.

Although he may not protest in the same vocal way as his older brother Hashirama, Tobirama is sick and tired of watching hatchlings fall for the grudges held by their elders. But he cannot simply step aside either, not when his clan would pay the price. Not when a hesitation on his part could leave his opponent able to strike a blow to a piece of his hoard. Although that particular issue is Tobirama's alone - most dragons have the sense to hoard inanimate objects, which don't have the capacity to land themselves in mortal danger. All dragons go through a period in their childhood when their possessive instincts suddenly take a transition something along the lines of ‘I like keeping shiny rocks in my nest’ to ‘Rocks that are this particular shade of ocean blue are mine, try to take them and I will tear your head off.’

Naturally, when the earliest stages of hoarding set in, Tobirama's instincts decided that a nice pile of shiny swords, or a collection of scrolls wasn't going to be suitable. Much to his frequent irritation (and sometimes embarrassment), Tobirama’s hoard consists of people. Hashirama, Itama, Touka, (Karawama). There are few in their clan who are aware of the exact nature of his hoard - most are under the impression that it consists of his carefully maintain collection of swords. It’s safer that way. Not even his sire, Butsuma knows. Tobirama dreads to think as to what he would say if his father ever discovered the crippling vulnerability of Tobirama’s hoard. Clashes over hoards are usually rare, given that a dragon’s hoarding instincts are as unique as the dragon themselves, but losing part of one’s hoard takes a toll on the dragon.

Moodily, Tobirama flicks his tail into the clear river and casts his sensing abilities along its length, in an effort to dispel the melancholy turn his thoughts are currently taking. A distraction arises a few moments later, as he detects the unmistakable trace of Hashirama's chakra within tendrils of the current. Which is curious, as Tobirama is certain that Hashirama had said that he was going to train in an abandoned quarry south of the Senju territory, which is in completely the opposite direction from course of this river.

It's the work of an instant to trace the chakra upstream a little ways, to a shallow ford, where Hashirama sits next to someone who's chakra is unfamiliar to Tobirama. Tobirama uncoils from his perch before he manages to abort the instinctive urge of _hoardindanger?_  and  _findandprotect_. His brother's chakra is steady and unflustered, and from what Tobirama can glean at a distance, the stranger doesn't seem to be harbouring any ill-will. 

He could leave it be. Hashirama _did_ managed to survive the years between his hatching and the point at which Tobirama grew old enough to start watching his brother's back. But as so often happens, Tobirama's curiosity is a force to be reckoned with, and is far stronger than his desire to remain where he is. Digging his front claws into the soft loam along the river bank, he stretches, before folding his draconic form down into his human one. After all, it's far easier to sneak up on someone when you have the size of a ten-year old human male, rather than a 10 m long dragon.

Leaping across the river, he darts into the branches of a tree and moves towards his errant sibling, following the course of the river upstream. The sun has barely shifted across the sky before he is forced to drop back down into the dense undergrowth or risk being spotted by either of the two boys chattering on the riverbank. 

_Honestly_ , Tobirama thinks to himself - if his brother wished to keep his new friend a secret, he shouldn’t have chosen a river bank as his meeting point. Tobirama is a water dragon, and a sensor to boot - there was absolutely no way that he wouldn’t have noticed his brother's chakra leaking into the nearby water bodies. Peering around the tree trunk, he observes the other human figure on the shore front, cataloguing the details. Pale skin, dark hair, dark eyes. He passes for human at a distance, but the stranger’s sent gives him away - cotton cloth, pine smoke and heated metal interwoven with the distinctive spice of a dragon in human form. Not just any dragon, either - that particular combination of characteristics most likely make the other boy an Uchiha.

Tobirama’s eyes narrow. Years of his father instructing him to show no mercy to any of that particular firedrake clan war with the obvious camaraderie between Hashirama and the dark-eyed boy. Hashirama is the core of Tobirama’s hoard; the piece Tobirama holds dearest in his heart, and causing Hashirama grief is almost unthinkable.

But loosing Hashirama himself would be worse. Tobirama surveys the pair of them at the river bank, scouring the Uchiha’s body language for any hint of a threat to his brother. The two of them are engaged in a stone skipping competition, with Hashirama winning more often than not, to the increasing frustration of his friend. 

Even as he watches, the stranger’s temper gets the better of him, and he yells at Hashirama in aggravation. Hashirama promptly starts wailing, begging for forgiveness and Tobirama is suddenly incredibly relieved that someone else has the job of dealing with Hashirama’s antics. Watching the two of them tussling on the stones by the river, something uncurls in Tobirama’s heart, looking at his treasures unburdened from any worry.

_Wait a moment._ Tobirama mentally stops, backtracks and replays his last thought. _His treasures… plural?_

_No._ Tobirama thinks to himself, his instincts warring with the logical forefront of his brain. _No. NO. Definitely not. Brother’s friend is from an enemy clan, you cannot make him a part of your hoard._

But Tobirama cannot help taking a further look at the two figures on the riverbank and the way that Hashirama laughs unreservedly in the darker haired boy’s presence. Tobirama makes one final, futile attempt to flatten the possessive instinct curling within his chest, even as the mental sensation sliding a scroll into the correct position on a bookcase signifies the addition of a new piece in Tobirama’s hoard.

Strangling the groan of despair at the sheer _magnitude_ of the headache this is going to incur, Tobirama sits down out of sight behind a tree and buries his head in his hands.

Well. Clearly Tobirama is going to have to find a way to realise his brother’s dream of uniting their warring families - the safety of his clan comes first, but the safety of his hoard is second to that, and every conflict between them will only bring about the chance of loosing the newest piece of his hoard. Hoardloss has driven dragons mad before, and Tobirama really does not want to be responsible for slaughtering a member of his own clan if one of them slays the Uchiha. It’s a daunting task, to be sure - but Tobirama is clever and cunning and he knows how to be patient. Given some time, he’s sure he can come up with _something_.

Although, he muses, as a shriek of rage, followed almost immediately by two very loud splashes, reaches his ears, his first task is probably going to be to stop his hoard killing each _other._

**Author's Note:**

> Well. This is... not quite what I meant to write when I opened up a document. And now I have ideas, dammit. 
> 
> And if anyone would like to fling ideas around for this verse, I'm on tumblr by the same name, and my ask box is open!
> 
> Also the idea of hoarding people came from one of Straight Outta Hobbiton 's stories- I did ask permission to use the notion before posting this!


End file.
